Let's just say mostly everything in this book was unexpected. I went into it thinking it was a young adult novel. It definitely isn't. I enjoyed the characters and plot, but somewhere in the latter half, it became a push to the finish. I would recommend it because it's pleasantly quirky and gave me a different perspective on the cultural revolution in China. The only writing I've read about this time period has been from Yu Hua, whose books were also completed unexpected for me. Hua's writing is far superior so I felt like I gained more from his books, especially The Past and the Punishments, but, again, I found this book valuable because I gained a second perspective. A bit rambling.I was not aware, while listening to this unabridged audiobook, that the story is basically autobiographical. This goes part of the way to explaining the rather rambling style that didn't seem to be heading anywhere. The translation is excellent and the audiobook narrator was good but I'm afraid I was bored by about half way through the book.The narrartive is set in the 1970s, in the Xinjiang region of China, in a small town known as Urumchi. Although there is an undercurrent of violence and terror, this is not the main focus of the novel, and we follow Love Liu as he progreses through school and family life during the time of Chairman Mao.The big event in his life was the arrival of a teacher of English at his school. He and his friend, Sunrise Huang, are immediately fascinated by the language and he not only works hard to learn the phonetic alphabet, grammar and vocabulary, but also mimics the manerisms and dress sense of Second Prize Wang, his teacher.Amid a society rife with whisperings and traitors, life is not plain sailing for Second Prize Wang and Love Liu is both a help and a hindrance to him. Throughout though, Second Prize Wang maintains the air of a gentleman and Love Liu tries to do the same - even going so far as to but a pair of glasses with clear lenses from his megre savings.Various events take place through the book, but they felt a bit disjointed and the narrative read more like a diary than a novel.There was also a lot of discussion of masturbation and voyersiam, which made me wonder quite what age this Young Adult book was aimed at.Interesting because it was set in a remote area of China, but not highly recommended.
What do You think about English: A Novel (2007)?
This has to be one of my favourite books. I just couldn't put it down, it was a joy to read.
—tara
Think there was something lost in translation here...
—bigdog
